The sun beckons. As Arctic air engulfs us, a spectacular new show offers a warm escape. The Greeks – Agamemnon to Alexander the Great at Pointe-à-Callière is the largest exhibition of ancient Greece ever produced in North America. There are more than 500 artifacts in gold, ceramic, glass and marble drawn from 21 Greek museums.

The exhibition is divided into six zones.

The first covers the 7th to 2nd millennia BCE. Marble figurines from the Cycladic Islands are shown, and a delicate diadem from the Minoan civilization on the isle of Crete. In Zone 2, two gold death masks are part of the 16th to 12th centuries BCE area. Zone 3, Heroes of the Iron Age, has a video with verses from Homer’s epic tales about the Trojan War, as well as a few coins, which were invented in 11th to 8th centuries BCE. The 4th area shows bronze helmets from Macedonia, including a shiny bronze reproduction of a warrior’s helmet, complete with red feather. Items from women’s tombs are here as well, including small containers that may have been “for poison”, pointed out Christine Dufresne, project manager at the museum. Zone 5, Athletes and Citizens of Classical Greece, displays Olympic athletes, clay tablets (steles) and amphora, jugs for wine or olive oil. The final room, The Kings of Ancient Macedonia, shows the tombs of Philip II and his Queen Medea. They were discovered intact in 1970. Full of gold crowns and ornaments, as well as swords and funerary masks, they reveal the incredible workmanship of that era. The visitor comes away having learnt a great deal about this ancient world. One fact that startles many is that the marvelous marble sculptures which so influenced Renaissance art and architecture, were not white as generally thought, but painted in vivid colours. A video reveals how the statues on display might have looked.

The exhibit is accompanied by a mobile app, tours, lectures, and a catalogue produced by the Canadian Museum of History.